The Court Houses of a Century.
The History of the Court Houses of Ontario is closely associated with the development of the Province. The first recognition of population in South Western Ontario was the formation in 1788, of the District of Hesse and the appointment of Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, and other officials.
The only inhabitants were in the French settlements around Detroit, where the barracks and Government House were located. In 1792 Upper Canada, now Ontario, was divided into nineteen Counties, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent occupying nearly the same territory as the District of Hesse. Representatives to the Provincial Parliament were elected and, at the first session convened at Niagara in September, 1792, an Act was passed for building a Gaol and Court House in every district, and for altering the names of the districts. Hesse was hereafter called the Western District, and the Court House and Gaol was ordered to be built at Detroit. The Courts were held there until the evacuation of Detroit by the British in 1795, after which they were held in the Parish of Assumption, now Sandwich. D. W. Smith, in his Gazetteer of 1799, states: "That there is a good Gaol and Court House," in Sandwich, "situated a little below the fort of Detroit, on the east side of the river."